Jared Andrews

Did a 2 gallon water change after testing, just to bring the nitrate down a little bit.

There are at least 7 berried shrimp in the tank right now. They all seem to be doing well.

My battle against Planaria continues. I have purchased both "No Planaria" and glass traps like this.

I borrowed a microscope from a friend, so I could get a closer look. It was difficult to get photos with my phone but here is one:

I'm holding off on using "No Planaria" for now. Even tho it is widely reported to be safe, I don't really like the idea of using it.

I'm having some success using the traps with cooked egg white in them. I probably catch 7 to 10 of them overnight. Compared to infestations I see documented online, it seems like mine is fairly minor. So I will try the traps for a while reducing feeding.

Discussing it with a friend I realized that my increased feeding may not only be providing food for the Planaria but also, causing the less hungry Mollies to no longer hunt them. Tho I haven't actually witnessed a Molly eat one, I do see them pick up snails from time to time, so it's not outside the realm of possibility. People online do say they hunt them. This would be consistent with one of my theories that the Planaria have been here the whole time at a minimal but surviving population level.

In addition to setting the traps, I have also been sucking them out of the tank at night when I see them. I am using a huge turkey baster to do this.

After a couple days of trapping and hunting, I very rarely see them. But this will certainly be an issue for the next month or two. I doubt I can completely eradicate them without "No Planaria" but I also want to see how much their presence affects the shrimp population if at all.